


like highschool and heartbreaks

by koushisan



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Jealousy, Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou Friendship, M/M, Roommates, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:08:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26659474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koushisan/pseuds/koushisan
Summary: Kenma is hopelessly in love. Kuroo is helplessly an idiot. They live under the same roof.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Kudos: 28





	like highschool and heartbreaks

**Author's Note:**

> i'm higschool what the fuck is a college. but anyw i needed more kuroken content since everything seems so... kurotsukki lately. 
> 
> also, i get to use this as an excuse to write awkward, dense kagehina as a side ship yay !

_ Clack_ . 

The latch clicks and the handle twists with a stutter, and all of a sudden Kuroo's emerging from the door– gangling and tipsy. Kenma looks at him with slight revulsion. Not that it's the first time he's seen this.

"You're back?" It leaves Kenma's lips more like a question, when it was supposed to be a statement. And he hates it because he knew exactly how Kuroo's gonna respond.

"Isn't it obvious?" 

_Like an ass_. He ignores the snarky comment and tip toes to the top of the kitchen shelf, fumbling for something edible and maybe, kinda spoiled. He feels like food poisoning his roommate tonight.

"Wow, Kenma. I'm suprised you can reach the shelf without a stool." Like he said,  _food_ _poison._

Kenma scoffs. "Shut up. What do you want for dinner?" He rattles with the bottom shelf now to pull out two porcelain bowls, one for him, and the other, still for him. Maybe. Who the other bowl belongs to solely depends on Kuroo's behavior.

With a wave of a hand, his roommate grins. "What are my choices?"

"Nothing." Kenma clumsily drops the bowl on the table. "We only have pork and beans in the pantry."

"Motherf-" Kuroo starts but then immediately snaps his mouth shut when he realizes he's sober enough to know right and wrong, and that stupid swear jar standing at the kitchen counter was planning to thug out his already empty pockets. "Then why'd you even ask?"

" _Because_ . I'm trying to be a gentleman." Kenma shakes his head in impatience, trucking in two cans of instant Porky's pork and beans.

Kuroo walks from the couch to the Kitchen, pulling up a chair and sitting in front of Kenma.

"Here," Kenma doesn't even try to be kind, he slams the can in front of Kuroo, barely opened and cold, and manages to do everything unfazed. "Eat up."

"Wow, so..." He coughs awkwardly. " _Gentle_ ."

Kenma too sits across him and slips in a glare while scraping out his dinner into his porcelain bowl. "Stop complaining." 

"It's  pork and beans, Kenma." 

_How can I not complain._

And Kenma throws in a loathing expression. "Stop whining. I'm also eating it, mr. Centre-of-the-universe."

"Yeah, but you're the one in charge of groceries." Kuroo, who was digging into that small opening of the can, pulled out the spoon and points it at Kenma tauntingly. "You could have bought something else." 

Kenma raises a brow at him. "Since when was  _I_ in charge of groceries?" 

"Since the first day you moved here, baby." With how casually and habitually Kuroo gave him pet names, Kenma just brought it upon himself to not care anymore. Thus, letting the deeper, secretly wiser part of his brain tell him he's actually fond of them.

"Jeez, I'm not your  wife , Kuroo." 

For a while, Kenma wonders why it suddenly went quiet after that. He looks at Kuroo. He should've known. His lips were nailed into a smirk and Kenma wishes he could punch it square off his face.

"You could be if you wanted to."

He's acting smug, he thinks. He's really not. Kuroo says a lot of questionable things,  really questionable things. Tonight just added up to that lengthy crap of a list.

"Oh my God. Why are you such a dick?" Kenma asks, not really double thinking.

Again, he wonders why Kuroo, who has lived his whole life not knowing what 'shut the hell up' meant, suddenly went quiet.

He watches as the smirk cast on his face grew even wider. He should've known.  _Again_.

"You mean, why do I  _have_ such a dick. It's just how I was born, babe."

The urge to punch him grew even more. And seeing how fake the contrition scattered all over his face was just made Kenma feel like pointing a loaded gun at his jaw right after punching him. Too brutal?  _Nah_ , he deserves worse.

In the middle of plotting a traceless murder, Kenma catches a glance of his roommate's perfectly slacked jaw. He notices how Kuroo could easily pull off being half drunk and hot as hell at the same time. He's never gonna admit that though.

Kuroo slams a hand on the table.

" _Fuck_ , I forgot to –"

"That's going in the swear jar." Kenma cuts.

" _Duck_ , I forgot to give Tsukishima my number."

Kenma stops himself from taking in another spoonful of beans. He looks at him, eyebrow quirked higher than it was supposed to. " _Tsukishima_?"

"Cute guy at the bar." Kuroo sighs, tipping the can's content into his bowl.

Kenma can't believe it. He stopped scooping beans. "You and Yaku-san just broke up last week."

Kuroo shrugs like it was nothing. "It was a no-commitment relationship."

No emotion was displayed on his face as he says the words and this time, Kenma wonders if this guy actually had a screw loose. "And this  Tsukishima guy?" He says, almost snaps.

"He's really cute." 

"Unbelievable," Christ, his tone. It was so bitchy. Pull it together Kozume! Kuroo's literally there and you're acting like some jealous girlfriend.

"Oh come on, Kenma!" Kuroo starts pleading. Kenma really wishes he didn't, with those stupid ass puppy eyes and childish pout, he's aware of their power. "I really like him. We might even get something going if I play my cards right."

"Unbelievable," Kenma wanted to kill himself. He just said the same thing twice.

It's becoming fatiguing, really. How Kuroo has done this thousands of times- pulling up his head straight, deliberately tousling his front hair, and with a petulant voice, saying: "You'll support me, right?" Because he just  _knows_ the effect it had on Kenma.

Kenma knows it's a tactic, of course. To get him to succumb. 

You would've expected him to decline, throw away that damned, biased feeling lurched in his chest and just flat out ignore his friend's desperate wishes. But he couldn't. He  _would_. But couldn't.

Because- because it's  _Kuroo_.

He's well aware that his sarcastic, indolent, stupid as shit friend with hideous, rooster hair and a bad personality held a thread to his fragile heart, and that he could pull on it any time. Like how he's asking for support right now, Kenma knows he'd give up eventually, but he decides to drag the conversation longer anyway.

"I don't know why you even need my support." He says, avoiding any contact. "You've always been jumping into these kinds of relationships."

" _Because_ ," Kuroo sighs. "You're my bestfriend. And your approval matterrs to me more than anyone else's."

Kenma grips on his side of the table, only visble to him. "Is that supposed to make me approve then?"

He couldn't see it, but Kenma could feel Kuroo gander briefly, then call: " _Is it_? "

It is.

But Kenma holds onto his pride and acts sleek. "I don't know." He mutters. "Do whatever you want Kuroo, it's not my place to oppose."

Kuroo somehow takes that as support and grins from ear to ear. "Thanks man, you're the best." 

"Yeah." Kenma replies bitterly, not liking how he was downgraded from baby to  man. "Yeah, I know. I'm finished with my food." He stands up abruptly from the table.

"Where are you going?" Kuroo asks, watching his roommate walk away from the dining table.

Kuroo grumbles, placing his palm to the handrail of the stairs. "To sleep."

"Okay. Sleep tight, Kenma!" The words faded slowly as the pudding haired guy climbed more and more steps towards his bedroom. Angrily stomping.

Kuroo was so stupid. Kenma was used to that, sadly. But Kuroo, right now- just wasn't thinking, it's like he's doing it on purpose- being dumb. Fuck conscience, Kenma was gonna spend the night cursing his roommate.

He opens the door to his bedroom, being welcomed by red wallpaper and cheap, dewy smell caused by the humidifier on his study table. Kenma sighs in relief.

He can finally breathe.

Kuroo's no longer in sight. And he can let loose. He falls on the bed, feeling like that nauseatingsense of duty was lifted from his shoulders, the humidifier's doing its job, he could calm down and, and, and- he can  _breathe_. He therefore comes up with the conclusion that being around Kuroo was just suffocating.

Kuroo's like one of those freshly released pair of shoes you'd see displayed on a Christmas night. You want to have them but there's this stupid, glass barrier that seperated you from it, so you restort to option two: enter the shop that had those shoes. It's a temporary happiness, being inside, having a closer look, maybe even getting a touch. But then, there's the price: the  _literal_ price. And you realize you're broke.

Kuroo's always been a pompous bitch, so Kenma believes if he actually was an item, he would be an expensive one.

And he doesn't like it. Kenma's never been able to pay the price for anything, his douche of a roommate wasn't an exception.

But being able to look at him was enough, Kenma tells himself. It was enough.

He shifts his body to the side aggresively, grabs the fluffiest pillow he had and cuddles with it. He pouts. It's a childish look, he knows, but he can't help it.

Being able to be with Kuroo was enough. It was enough.

Kenma sighs.

It seems like Kuroo wasn't the only idiot here, afterall.

* * *

"Tsukishima Kei?"

"Yeah," Kenma tilts his head in genuine surprise. "You know him?"

Shoyo shakes, sticking out his tongue. "Kageyama  _hates_ him." 

Kenma nods, sipping on his usual black coffee before pointing the cup at his friend curiously. "And you?"

"Don't know him," The orange haired boy answers, but immediately narrows eyes when he realizes how lacking he sounded, and addded: "–Personally, I mean. I do know he's in the debate club, and his team goes against Kageyama's from time to time."

Kenma, drinking from his cup again, chuckled. "You know everything about Kageyama, huh?"

"We're friends! It's normal." 

Kenma raises a brow.

"Fine.  _Best_ friends."

"Yeah, whatever." Kenma shakes his head, going in for his drink while giving Shoyo a look of waste. "Your meat bun's going cold. Hurry and eat."

Shoyo nods eagerly and stuffs his mouth with almost half of the whole bun, he chews rigidly before swallowing and looking up at his friend. "Why'd you ask about Tsukishima anyway?" 

Kenma purses his lips, wondering if he should say anything. He did, anyway. "Kuroo says he likes him."

"E~h?" Shoyo cocked his head. "But I thought he just broke up with Yaku-san last week?"

_Exactly_ . Kenma wanted to say, but took it upon himself not to, instead, he recalls what Kuroo had told him last night and mimics: "It was non-committed, apparently."

He earns a blink from Shoyo.

"Wow." The orange haired bellowed. " _Asshole_ ."

Kenma almost snorts, not that the word was new. But it coming from the naive, little Hinata Shoyo's mouth kinda was. "Yeah." He was therefore forced to say. "It's some Kuroo branded bullshit, allright. I can't believe I put up with him."

"Why  _do_ you put up with him?"

"Because he's my friend," Kenma shrugs. "Apparently."

"Yeah, right." Shoyo puffs.

"What? He is."

"Yeah," Shoyo puffs,  again . But strangely drags his words longer this time. " _Right_."

Something even Kenma himself acknowledges is the fact that he was a sore loser and judging from where the conversation was taking turns to, he could tell he was losing. Losing what? He doesn't even know. Just that, if he's going down, he's definitely not going down alone.

So he turns abrasive, speaks scathing, rough.

"Shut up. You're not one to talk." God, what a loser. "I know you like Kageyama!"

Shoyo gasps, probably more dramatically than it was supposed to be. Kenma actually stops to wonder if he stepped on a mine, but come on, it was too obvious. He's suprised Shoyo doesn't realize it.

A guttural sound of denial vibrated at the back of the orange haired's throat. He would've been snapping at Kenma by now, if it weren't for that damned hand that slammed against the table.

Both of them looked up.

" _Why_ ," The person removed his hand on the table and proceeded to take the seat next to Kenma. "–The hell are you two talking about Kageyama Tobio?"

Both of them ignored him, Shoyo coughs. "Hi Kuroo."

"Hey shrimpy." Kuroo grins at him for a moment but quickly diverts his attention to the guy beside him, completely denying a third person's presence. "Anyway, Kenma, I need your help with something. It's urgent."

"I'm having my morning coffee." 

Kuroo  _knows_. But snubs it, anyway. He grabs Kenma by the shoulder, turning the guy's head to face where he subtly pointed his finger to. "You see that tall guy, blond, with the glasses over there? That's the guy I told you about last night."  _Tsukishima_.

Kenma fights back a grumble. "Okay?"

Another word was gonna come out of Kuroo's mouth again, but his jaw slacked and Kenma could see why. The tallest of the group was staring intensely at the shortest and Kenma knows _why_. He had a theory, anyway.

Then: "Hey shrimpy, look over there. Kageyama's with a  _girl_ ." 

"What would I care?"

"They're playing  _volleyball_. "

" What ? Where?!" And just like that, he leaves. The K and K duo finally have room for privacy.

Kenma groans at that thought. "What do you  _want_ , Kuroo?" Because once again, his theory was proved right.

"Okay. So," Kuroo side glances, Kenma doesn't even need to follow to know where. He's probably looking at _Tsukishima_ again. Ugh. "When blonde, glasses guy's done getting his food, there won't be anymore unoccupied tables, and that's when you come in: stand up and offer your seat."

Kenma just gapes.

" _Fuck you_ , Kuroo."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, but I promise if this goes right, I'm gonna buy you that console you've been staring at since April." Kenma's half mad, half convinced. But then, Kuroo just had to add: "For the record, that's going in the swear jar."

This was so tiring, Kenma swears- Having to deal with Kuroo's bullshit? Tiring AF. So when Tsukishima has gathered everything he wanted and was now looking for a vacant seat, Kenma wonders why he was willingly standing up and biting his lip before the words leave his mouth, "hey," Then Tsukishima looks.

"Yes?" He responds, blunt. Kenma expected it.

"You can, You can take my seat if you want." Kenma swallows, clenching and unclenching his fists, then looking Tsukishima in the eye. 

Tsukishima looked- _what the fuck_ \- actually, he can't tell. When he looked up at those eyes, they're cold and unsympathetic and cruel, considering this was probably the biggest act of kindness he's done for anyone. But maybe it was how the guy was, or maybe it had something to do with Kenma's disfavor of him. Either way, Tsukishima accepted without a fight.

Kuroo was surprised. Kenma was too, but probably less than how _Tsukishima_ was _too_.

Ah, but they're acquainted, Kenma remembers and the shock built up in his body was replaced with dissapointment and moody teenager emotions. 

He watches as Tsukishima takes a seat anyway and how Kuroo slipped a thumbs up in his direction before grinning at the blonde in front of him. Kenma grimaces internally. He walks away.

_Stupid Kuroo._

The cafteria was weirdly crowded today, if it wasn't Kenma would've already shouted at his roommate slash best friend slash crush? He wasn't sure about the last part. But he grumbles in distraught knowing he considered it as an option. He shoves both his hands in the warmth of his joined hoodie pocket and continues to walk with his head low. He probably shouldn't have though.

_Thump_!

His head comes in collision with a chest.

"I'm so sorry!" It wasn't even that hard, but Kenma rubs his head out of instinct and looks up to see a giant. _Huh_. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's my fault for not looking at where I was going." Kenma says, probably more shocked at the guy's height than the fact that he bumped into him. But he feels a gaze falter on him for a minute.

"Wait- Aren't you Kenma Kozume-senpai?" The guy spoke up. "Vice President of Literature and Arts club?"

Kenma's eyes dilate. Yes, that was indeed him.

"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" He tries not to sound offensive, throwing in a smile just for repercussion.

"I'm a member of the club!" Oh. "I'm a big fan of your works, senpai! I'm actually trying to achieve your level of creativity!" He says and Kenma doesn't know if he should be scared or genuinely flattered. The guy's tall and giddy and overly enthusiastic about everything. 

"Is that so?" Kenma laughs awkwardly. "What's your name?"

He sees the tall guy's eyes twinkle, "Haiba Lev!" He's saying and Kenma's just forcing out sound effects that would seem to be right in this coversation. _Lev_ , huh.

"Well, nice meeting you, Lev. I hope you figure out what works for you." Kenma smiles at him.

Lev nods, puppy eyes on display.

Kenma bows out of respect before leaving the guy alone, hearing a bunch of faded compliments like _'Ah! I can't believe I bumped into Kenma senpai!'_ In an endearing tone and another _'Ah! I can't believe I bumped into Kenma senpai!'_ But in a frightened voice. What a dork.

Kenma shakes his head, heeding to his surroundings more to avoid another encounter with one of his... _fans_. If that's what you call it. But Kenma wasn't gonna lie, that height was a kinda attractive look on him. Reminded him of Kuroo, who would hover over Kenma when reaching for the top shelf of their pantry.

He sighs.

Why is it _always_ the tall guys?


End file.
